If you’ve been a long-time reader of the blog, you know that I love running. You know that most of my workouts consist of running. And you probably also know that I really need to get some other form of workouts in, especially if I want to hit my weightloss goal.

Well, two of my friends are BeachBody coaches and I’m part of their fitness groups on Facebook. Lately, they have been taking about BeachBody’s newest program, the 21 Day Fix, and how wonderful the workouts and portion control cups are. They had me, someone who generally doesn’t like workout videos, to give it a try.

One of the things I loved was how people finished feeling like they got a great workout in just 30 minutes but they weren’t left unable to move. I don’t want to stop running, so I knew some of the more intense programs might not be the best fit for me right now. Maybe later, but just not right now.

There were two options available. The 21 Day Fix program and then the challenge pack for $60 The challenge pack came with the whole 21 Day Fix program plus a month of Shakeology for $140, which is you know anything about Shakeology then you know a one month supply of that is $129.99, so for an extra $10 I could get the whole 21 Day Fix program. SOLD!!! I figured that was a deal I couldn’t pass up, so I bit the bullet and bought it.

And yesterday, it arrived!

Last night , I started looking over everything and I’ll be starting this program soon so I’ll be spending the next few days doing a more extensive and thought-out meal plan.

I’m hoping this will kick start the final leg of my weight loss and have already thought about doing the program for a second round if it goes well the first time. My plan is to keep track and let all of you know how it’s going. Don’t hold me to it, but it’s my plan. LOL!

Have you tried any of the Beach Body programs? What did you think of them?

Good evening! How is everyone tonight? I’m not one to typically post at night but TJ has sent me away to the bedroom tonight.

What? I know. Crazy, right?!? I have mentioned before that TJ is attending the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). His major is sound design. His ultimate dream is to make sound effects for movies and TV shows. One of the classes he is taking this quarter is called “Field Recording.” Most of his assignments involve him having to go out and record his own sounds to help build his own library of sound effects.

Unfortunately, for me, he has borrowed super sensitive equipment from the school, and my quiet typing was being picked up by the microphone so I had to leave my craft room/office. But honestly, I don’t mind. I’m so proud of him for going after what he really wants to do. He could have easily chosen to go to a school and major in something that would guarantee him a job when he was done. Something that he knew would work, but he wouldn’t be truly happy in. He’s going after his passion and what he really wants. So, I am happy to support him and help him in whatever he needs to help him through school and find his ultimate dream job.

Besides, I get a chance to catch up on The Bachelor too, without him making fun of every little thing. LOL!

And yes for those that keep up with The Bachelor, I am behind and watching the 2nd episode. Oops! 😉

And with my laptop and my iPad, I figured I’d pop on in with a quick update on me.

Over the holidays, I slacked off with working out but did maintain healthier eating. I luckily did not gain any of my weight back, but I didn’t lose any either. Since the last time I updated about my weight loss progress there has been a loss though. As of tonight, I have lost a total of 29 pounds and have 11 pounds to go. While I am ecstatic about my weight loss, I’m not as toned as I would like to be.

I started running more consistently again and am now actively working to build my base weekly mileage as well as my distance per run. Once per week, I have been going for a “long” run. These long runs are not long…yet, but I’m working on it. Sunday, I ran 4 miles, which is closest to my longest distance, but this coming Sunday, I will go for 5. This will officially become my longest run and then hope to steadily increase my long runs. For me, I feel like I have a long way to go to be where I want to be as a runner, but I have to say I am really enjoying seeing the progress I am making. Just to see how far I have come from when I started is pretty cool to me.

While I have been doing really well with my runs but I am noticing that I am lacking some strength training big time. I think, I know this lack of strength training is also a reason I am not as toned as I would like to be. Sometimes when it comes to strenth training, I feel a bit lost, but I am determined to figure out what will be best for me and work on it.

And on that note, I am off to find some good strength training workouts. Have a happy Wednesday night everyone!

First, let’s just to state the obvious….I’m a bit behind on the New Year post. I really wanted this written and up on Tuesday but I was super busy and that just didn’t happen. Bad blogger. And speaking of bad blogger, you may notice there are a few missing recaps. I never got around to sharing my first race experience with the Savannah Bridge Run, nor did I share any Christmas stories, or anything about my trip to Atlanta, which I sadly never even mentioned. Talk about awful. They’re coming all in the next week. Don’t mind the delay. I’m working on it.

And while I could share one of those stories today, I’m instead going to share some goals I have set for myself for the new year. Some are running, some are personal, and some re blog-related. None the less, I feel writing them down and sharing them with you will help in not only seeing what I want to accomplish, but also hold some accountability for myself.

Health & Fitness

Last month I signed up for 1000 Miles for Smiles set up by the fabulous Victoria Runs. It’s a challenge to run 1000 miles in 2013 and the money used to register is donated to a charity. There are prizes, winners as well. You should definitely check it out. For me, this is going to be HUGE and TOUGH! I didn’t even come close to that last year, and while I don’t know if this is a goal I can actually complete, I’m going to try. I signed up for the challenge to give me motivation to run more and because the cause is great! Realistically, if I can complete 450 miles, I’ll be ecstatic, but I’m using this challenge as a push to do more.

I want to get fitted for running shoes. I’ve never done this but I know how important this can be. I know I will need new running shoes in the next couple of months so this goal should be crossed off then.

I want to run at least 3 races, hopefully 4, one of which is a 10K. I know this doesn’t sound like a lot but while my husband is in school and only working part-time, we have a budget. If we can fit more into our budget, that would be great. I really need to start looking at which races I would like to do and sign up.

Eat healthier and get my family eating healthier. While I ate a lot healthier last year, I still have lots of room for improvement. My family, especially my husband, isn’t as big on the healthy eating kick, but is willing to try. With his help, I hope to keep junk food out of the house, and only have healthy snacks on hand for all of us.

Strength train 2-3 times a week. I admit, I’m awful when it comes to strength training. I know how important it is, but I just don’t do it like I should. I need, and want, to be better and stronger. This is a must.

Lose that last 15 pounds. I have hit a stand still with my weightloss but I am deermined to lose this last 15.

Personal/Family Goals

Organize my house and keep it organized. This involves so much, including having TJ and the kids help. I want to start small and focus on one room and go from there. I also would like us to go through our stuff once a month for 20-30 minutes and see what we can get rid of that we don’t use. I think these small tasks will help in the long run

Make a budget and put it on paper. This year, my husband and I want to work on paying off a few loans we have and saving some money. Change is in our future. Not in the immediate future, but in the future and we have to start planning for those changes now, even if they won’t happen for a few years. We want to start planning and saving for when the time comes to leave Savannah and move on somewhere else. And what better time to start, then now with a budget to help us do that.

Become more consistent with my meal planning. I meal plan now, but not every week and sometimes I’m just not in the mood to have what I have planned. I want to become better at it.

An active family day. My kids get outside but not as much as I would like. I want to take one day a month (to start with and then work towards more later) where we plan to spend the day as family outdoors doing something active. It doesn’t have to cost a lot but it could be as simple as a day at the park running around, or a day at the beach swimming in the ocean. We could make it educational and head to Ft Pulaski, or walk around downtown. I just want to do something that gets all of us moving more and together as a family.

Blogging Goals

Begin to consistently post. I work full-time and when I get home, I sometimes just want to spend time with my family or relax. But since starting this blog, I have realized that I enjoy to write and share my life experiences, whether good or bad. The days I post I feel more positive about myself and have found an inner peace. I hope that if I can post more consistently that inner peace and positive energy will stay and that I can also begin to grow my blog into something that I strive for it to be.

Come up with a new, more personalized design that better represents me and my blog. I have been thinking about some ideas for a while now. I just know I need a little help in getting it all put together and out there. Do you know of someone who can help me with that?

Post some informative and helpful posts. I post mostly about my personal experiences but I would love for people to be able to come here for information as well. And maybe I’ll throw in a few recipes in there too!

Comment on my favorite blogger posts more often. I do what I can but I know how I appreciate every time I get a comment, I would like to do the same for them.

Career Goals

I have been slowly working on building a portfolio to start my own photography business. It’s slow going, but I want to make sure I do everything correctly and don’t fail in my first two years. Finishing my portfolio would be a great step to help get me started. Do you live in the Savannah area and want some pictures taken? Go ahead and shoot me an email and we’ll meet up, I’ll show you some of my work and see what we can work out. You help me, and I’ll help you! 😉

Get all the paperwork I need to file for my business license in Savannah.

Get my business running by the end of the year. I plan to start out part time (I need to keep my current job as a steady source of income) but hope that once I grow and have enough clients, I could go full-time.

Well I guess that about covers it! It seems like a lot but I fully believe every single one of these goals will be doable. They won’t all be easy, and I know there will be times when I feel like they will be impossible, but I will just have to keep telling myself all of these will be worth it and make me a better overall person.

Saturday was a bittersweet day. It was the day that my grandmother was layed to rest. My grandmother was a special person and she will never be forgotten. I handled not being there better than I thought but it was still rough. After the funeral, my mom called me with some more unfortunate bad news. Right before the funeral my sisters got very sick and had to be rushed to the ER. One of my sisters, Allyson, was worse than the other passing out before walking in to the funeral. At the time she called, no one knew what was wrong, but my mom knew she had to let me know. She didn’t want to ruin my day but she knew not telling me would have upset me more. It wasn’t until hours later that she was able to call me back and let me know that they both had a virus and that Allyson had also become dehydrated as a result of the virus. They are thankfully fine now and should be heading home back to Atlanta today. Needless to say, I’ve had my fair share of bad news for the day.

Saturday was also my son’s birthday. I am still blown away that my little boy is 7! Where has time gone? We started out Dylan’s birthday with a birthday breakfast surprise. He loves getting coffee-free drinks from Starbucks. We don’t let it happen often though. So, I thought it would be a nice treat for me and him to head out for some Starbucks. He had no idea where we were going until we pulled into the parking lot, but was excited when he realized he was getting his own drink.

Check out his birthday breakfast!

Just me and my favorite 7 year old hanging out!

Once we made it home, it was time to get ready for a Birthday BBQ. Dylan told us he didn’t really want a party and then last week decided he wanted one. It wasn’t something we could really do last minute but I called up some friends to see if they wanted to come over for BBQ and cupcakes for Dylan’s birthday. Nothing big but a little something to celebrate.

I tried to make Oreo cupcakes with a gooey surprise of vanilla frosting in the center.

Sadly Batch #1 failed by having frosting ooze out of the cupcakes so Batch #2 was just chocolate cupcakes. They were all frosted with vanilla frosting and then topped with crushed Oreos and everyone still liked them so I guess they were a success in the end. I don’t like cake, frosting or Oreos so I never had one.

We picked up some water balloons, and these really cool water blasters from the Dollar Tree for the kids to play with. I have no pictures of them playing with either since they were so close to the door, it meant being in the line of fire if I so much as opened the door. They loved every minute of it.

The good times ended with presents! Dylan was so excited about every gift, even the school shirts he recieved. He’s so happy to wear something other than white. LOL! (Side note: We moved in the middle of the school year last year and his new school required white or hunter green shirts. Hunter Green shirts can NOT be found in the middle of the school so he had to wear white everyday. Poor kid)

By the time everyone left, it was almost time for the kids to get ready for bed and TJ to head to work, so this mom got a little bit of time to relax before heading to bed herself.

Yesterday, our day was spent at home but not relaxing. House cleaning and laundry were on the agenda.

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Now, onto some fitness. I slacked last week in the fitness department. I got my workouts in but it was all light effort. And I didn’t even blog about any of it. I was busy with getting the house organized, sorting through stuff to get rid of and life in general. Being locked out of the gym didn’t help either.

My cardio is what really suffered. My strength workouts were great but with either rain or the awful heat and humidity, outside runs were not happening for me.

This morning was a new week and new story. I headed to the gym hoping to be able to get in. Today was my lucky day! I am no longer locked out….finally!

Today’s workout started Week 4 of Best Body Bootcamp, which meant Workout A incorporated with cardio. These circuit intervals are great and compared to last week’s Circuit Intervals, this was so much better. I decided to push myself a bit today, thinking I should be able to keep a better pace since the time spent on each set would be shorter. Instead of running around 10:30-10:45, I pushed myself to run each 5 minute interval at 9:30. It was a success and I felt great. It’s something I definitely want to work towards as a normal pace but I know that will take to be able to maintain that for long periods. Either way I was proud and covered 2 miles in the 20 minutes I spent on the treadmill. My strength training session was fantastic and I was feeling it a lot more than last week. That 2/4/2 tempo is killer!

I finished out my workout with my usual plank and bridge. One of these days, I will remember to knock those out first so I can hold them longer. LOL!

Before leaving the gym, I hit the scale and have reached my first HUGE milestone! I was down 2 pounds from my last weigh-in bring my total loss to 20.6 pounds and pushing my over the halfway mark and bringing me to a weight I haven’t seen in a long time. Talk about a great way to start the week!

I have no idea what I was thinking yesterday but I completely forgot about my plank and bridge for the day. It wasn’t until I was at work that I realized I never did them, so after dinner it was time to get my plank and bridge on. I tried to convince TJ to do them with me, but he was’t up for it. Instead, he said, “No, I’ll just watch you do it.” With my audience watching, I was determined to better than my normal 30-35 second plank and my 1 minute and a half bridge. I succeeded!

Yummy! ThisZucchini Oatmeal Bread was fabulous despite one minor problem. I slightly burnt it. Ooops! But I blame my oven. I set the timer but the timer never went off.

And while I waited on it to bake, I did a little 50 Shades Darker reading. I’m really enjoying these books. I just wish I had more time to read.

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And that brings us to this morning. This morning I was out the door and at the gym not-too-bright (the sun wasn’t even up yet) and early.

Lower Body Workout B and my last day of C25K were on the agenda. I started with my last day of C25K. I can’t believe I have finally reached the last day! I completed the run with a decent time for me and I was pleased!

Next came the Lower Body workout with more wall sits and one leg sit-and-stands. I did better than last week on the wall sits but not the one leg sit and stands. I’m still awful at those. LOL!

Once I finished my lower body workout I sit had my plank and bridge. I remembered this morning. Not the best but the worst.

And before I left the gym, I decided to have a weigh in. Down another .6 pounds, bringing my total loss to 18 pounds. Slowly moving but moving. I’m happy!

By the time I got back home, I was starving. Breakfast was a Starbucks Turkey Bacon sandwich and an Iced Coffee. I was rushed when I came home so I had to leave without breakfast so it was a morning out.

Dinner was nothing big, just some scrambled eggs, which I forgot to photograph. Oops! But now I’m hungry and I have hard time believing the no food after 8 rule, so I’m going to have a bowl of cereal and watch the Olympics.

I kicked off the day with some cardio. Just like Saturday, my chest was tightening up and I was having a hard time breathing so I ended up with a half run/half walk. I really gotta figure out what is up.

After cardio it was time for my plank and bridge for the day!

And last, the lower body strength workout! It started with wall squats. Apparently I underestimated this exercise. I figured this would be a breeze. I was wrong. Something I love about bootcamp already, learning new exercises to incorporate into my workouts for later.

Before leaving the gym, I hopped on the scale to see I had lost .8 pounds! My total is now 17.4 GONE baby! Just a few more pounds to go before I reach the halfway point!

This morning breakfast was a repeat of yesterday. I have been seriously craving these lately!

Lunch was some Raspberry Chobani topped with some Cinnamon Life. DELICIOUS!

And dinner tonight? I’m not really sure. I asked TJ to take out some chicken so we he could throw it on the grill tonight, but he doesn’t always take out what I ask, so I guess it’ll be a surprise when I get home.

Have you tried wall squats? How long did you last? I did not do so hot. LOL!

This post was supposed to go up yesterday, but sadly I left my memory card at home and when I got home, I completely forgot. Oops!

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How was everyone’s weekend? I was great! I hope yours was too!

Last Wednesday was mine and TJ’s two year anniversary. Two years ago we got married on the beach on Hunting Island near Beaufort, SC where we lived at the time. Last year, we went back to that beach to celebrate our 1 year anniversary where we got married. This year the plan was to do the same but in the end we decided on going to Tybee Island instead. Tybee Island is a half the distance to Hunting Island so we’d be saving a good amount of gas.

Saturday morning, I was up making lunches, and loading up the car. At 9am, we headed out (after turning back to get the blanket we forgot. oops!)

That’s definitely a golf cart driving down 80 in the fast lane (and not one that go very fast!)

Once we arrived we set up our spot near the pier and hit the water.

I thought the waves were a bit choppier today but maybe it was my imagination. They were definitely bigger than normal though. I didn’t take a ton of pictures. I brought my camera and wanted to take some but I was definitely just living in the moment. Dylan was all about riding the waves with his boogie board and definitely wanted me to go with him. His boogie boards are small and help you ride the waves but he needs a bigger one. Jordyn was a little nervous with the waves but overall did well.

After a little swimming in the ocean, it was time for lunch and to take a little break to play in the sand.

It didn’t take though before Dylan was ready to get back in the water. You’d never know he used to be terrified of the ocean. While Dylan played in the waves with TJ, I sat with Jordyn. There was a tiny little pool of water from where the sand had been a bit dug out and when the tide went back out some of the water stayed. It was a perfect baby pool for Jordyn, but it was extremely warm. This is where Jordyn felt the most comfortable. She loved playing in the water with her toys and digging in the dirt.

TJ and I took turns sitting with her and playing in the water with Dylan. After a little, Jordyn had decided she had had enough and was tired and wanted to go home. We packed a bit earlier than I had planned on went back to relax at the house. Well TJ and the kids relaxed. I did what else, laundry.

Sunday, was big on the relaxing front for me. I hit the gym first thing in the morning and had my fastest pace yet. I was quite pleased with myself. After my run I decided I wanted to get a little more cardio in but something more low key. It was off to the bikes where I made a goal of 3 miles. Nothing crazy but enough for another low key 20 minutes or so.

On a weightloss note, I was down another .8 pounds yesterday bringing my total weight loss to 16.6 pounds. Only a few more pounds to go before I hit the halfway point! WAHOO!!!

The rest of my day was spent relaxing and hanging out with the kids. They always know how to make a person’s day!

You heard that right! I’m going to Bootcamp and I couldn’t be more excited. Earlier this year Tina from Best Body Fitness hosted Best Body Bootcamp and the slacker that I was didn’t sign up as soon as I read the post and thus forgot and missed the deadline. 🙁 But Tina promised she would host Round 2 sometime over the summer, and she delivered. Round 2 is here! I set a reminder in my phone and this afternoon, I signed myself up and now I just have to impatiently patiently wait for July 23rd when Round 2 begins!

Don’t know what Bootcamp is. It’s an 8 week program that is geared toward improving your lifestyle and is open to anyone in any fitness level. It begins Monday, July 23rd and ends Sept 16th. The cost is $25 to register and there’s a chance to win some cash prizes but most importantly it’s a great event to help you get healthier and achieve your goals.

Registration is open until Friday July 20 at 8pm EST. Want to register or more information? Click here. If you sign up, let me know! I’d love to share our progress together.

Why can I not go running? I ready myself to go and I wake up and I don’t have it in me. I don’t know if I figured it out this morning but I found something that may work. It’s this thing called the treadmill and did you know that they’re inside in an air conditioned building? It’s pure bliss.

There are two main reasons why I was never a fan of a treadmill. Reason #1: I’m a bit self-conscious and I’m a newbie runner so running next to someone who is running for an hour makes me feel like I suck. I know, I know, I shouldn’t feel that way and I will get to the point where those runners are one day but I have to be patient and work at it. But you can’t help how you feel.

Reason #2: I like the idea if running somewhere. Even if it’s in a circle around the neighborhood. I enjoy the scenery and I enjoy being outside. What I don’t enjoy however, is the heat and on my last feel runs, I have felt very blah during those runs which wasn’t motivating to go on another. Sometimes, I don’t think I’m meant to live in the south. haha!

So, what motivated me to get to the gym and run on the treadmill? Well if you remember my goals post, I talked about finishing the C25K program as one of my goals. I can’t finish it if I don’t go for a run, and with the heat and humidity making me feel blah, I decided to give the treadmill a try. Most of the time, I get to the gym around 6:30 so there’s very few people there and sometimes I’m the only one there. This helped with my fear of looking like an idiot and not being able to complete my run. Being more than halfway done with the C25K program actually helped some too, because I know I’m much better at running than I used to be. I decided to face my silly fear and go for it this morning.

This morning run was a 25 minute run. I began with a warm up and then started my run. I set my pace at just under 11 minutes and once I did a few “laps” I upped my pace to 10:20, a pace I was pretty sure I could handle for the full 25 minutes based on my running in the neighborhood.

I took this picture before my cool down. I finished my cool down to give me 3 miles. Honestly, I felt pretty great! This particular run was the motivation I needed. I know if I can keep up this up, I can do up my pace over time and that makes me super excited. I was actually a little bummed I didn’t have time to workout a little longer. I wanted to hit the bike for a shirt lowkey workout to finish out the morning but I didn’t get to the gym early enough. There’s always tomorrow!

Once I got home, I had to quickly get ready for work and make my lunch for work. I didn’t have time to make breakfast, so it was a turkey bacon sandwich from Starbucks along with my usual Iced Coffee.

Lunch was Chicken Breast on a Honey Wheat Sandwich Thin with some Laughing Cow Swiss and a few Sesame crackers with some Laughing Cow Strawberry Cream Cheese. If onely Laughing Cow knew how much I ate their product. LOL!

And now, onto a little weightloss update. This morning I had a weigh-in and have now lost a total of 15.8 pounds. YAY!!!!!

After doing some research, I found that while I had a goal weight set in mind and it was in the ideal range, I am finding that my ideal weight to live the longest is actually 4 pounds heavier than my goal weight. So, I’ve changed my goal to reflect that weight, which I honestly think may be better anyway. I have adjusted my goal to reflect the best weigh to allow me to be the healthiest and longest, and as a result am now 4 pounds closer to my goal. lol

I do not like Georgia humidity. I never have, and I don’t think I ever will. Stepping outside your door at 7 in the morning into that sticky weather that instantly makes you feel like you need to go back in and take another shower is awful. So far this year, we’ve been lucky with humidity and heat, but I have a feeling Savannah’s luck has run out. The past few days the heat has been increasing, and the humidity is getting worse. We’re finally starting to hit the 90’s, which I know there are plenty of you that are struggling with high temperatures that you’re not used. I feel for you. I think the 90’s are here to stay. 🙁 The only time I’m not as bothered by temperatures in the 90s are beach days. I can lather on some sun screen and head into the ocean. But if it’s not a beach day, the 90s can leave, along with the humidity. That can leave and never come back.

OK, I am done bitching….for now. I make no promises that you won’t here anymore complaints about GA summers, its heat or its humidity this summer.

Before I begin about why I am complaining about the humidity, let’s back up to last night. Girl’s night in. A friend of mine came over and hung out after TJ went to work. It’s so nice having a grown up conversation after the kids go to bed. A little glass of wine makes it even better. We gossiped, we laughed, we drank a little wine and stayed up WAY too late. lol

This morning, I woke up and decided to head out for a run before I even ate breakfast in hopes of little to no humidity. I was wrong. I went out for my run, but I wasn’t feeling it. I don’t know if it was staying up too late or the humidity or both, but I was struggling with this run this morning. I couldn’t find a groove. The run intervals today were upped to two 8 minute intervals with a 5 minute walking break in between the two. I really don’t think it was the 8 minute runs that got me, but I guess it could have been. I tried pacing myself a little better knowing it would be longer run intervals, but I was slower than I normally was all around and just couldn’t make myself move faster.

I’m a little nervous about the the next run. It’s one 20 minute session. I have faith in myself that I can most of it, but I am nervous and will be disappointed in myself if I can’t. Send me happy thoughts that I can do it. I’ll probably go for that run Monday.

After my run, I was starving. I needed some breakfast. And this morning it was a Thomas Everything Bagel Thin and some Strawberry Cream Cheese by Laughing Cow.

Later, lunch was a ham and turkey sandwich with a Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese wedge on an Arnold Honey Wheat Sandwich Thin.

My day mostly consisted of laundry and cleaning (they never end. lol) and hanging out with the kiddos until dinner where we grilled some burgers and had a side of Annie’s Mac and Cheese. A totally unhealthy and accidentally unphotographed dinner but I figure every once in a while won’t hurt anything.

After dinner, I was feeling a walk. TJ was not. He stayed home while I took both the kids with me. Our walk was only two small laps but it’s better than nothing and it’s nice just to get out and walk. And Dylan and Jordyn love it.

Now, the kids are asleep and I’m about to make sure I have everything I need for family photo session tomorrow.

Oh, and on another happy note, I am down another pound bringing my weightloss total to 13.4 pounds!!! YAY!!!!